- Scientists develop new type of memory circuit ["memory resistor" 2008]
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Posted on 10/29/2010 2:06:17 PM PDT by decimon
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have solved a quest in fundamental material science that has eluded scientists since the 1960s, and could form the basis of a new approach to electronics.
The discovery, just reported online in the professional journal Advanced Materials, outlines the creation for the first time of a high-performance "metal-insulator-metal" diode.
"Researchers have been trying to do this for decades, until now without success," said Douglas Keszler, a distinguished professor of chemistry at OSU and one of the nation's leading material science researchers. "Diodes made previously with other approaches always had poor yield and performance.
"This is a fundamental change in the way you could produce electronic products, at high speed on a huge scale at very low cost, even less than with conventional methods," Keszler said. "It's a basic way to eliminate the current speed limitations of electrons that have to move through materials."
A patent has been applied for on the new technology, university officials say. New companies, industries and high-tech jobs may ultimately emerge from this advance, they say.
The research was done in the Center for Green Materials Chemistry, and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Laboratory and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute.
Conventional electronics made with silicon-based materials work with transistors that help control the flow of electrons. Although fast and comparatively inexpensive, this approach is still limited by the speed with which electrons can move through these materials. And with the advent of ever-faster computers and more sophisticated products such as liquid crystal displays, current technologies are nearing the limit of what they can do, experts say.
By contrast, a metal-insulator-metal, or MIM diode can be used to perform some of the same functions, but in a fundamentally different way. In this system, the device is like a sandwich, with the insulator in the middle and two layers of metal above and below it. In order to function, the electron doesn't so much move through the materials as it "tunnels" through the insulator – almost instantaneously appearing on the other side.
"When they first started to develop more sophisticated materials for the display industry, they knew this type of MIM diode was what they needed, but they couldn't make it work," Keszler said. "Now we can, and it could probably be used with a range of metals that are inexpensive and easily available, like copper, nickel or aluminum. It's also much simpler, less costly and easier to fabricate."
The findings were made by researchers in the OSU Department of Chemistry; School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.
In the new study, the OSU scientists and engineers describe use of an "amorphous metal contact" as a technology that solves problems that previously plagued MIM diodes. The OSU diodes were made at relatively low temperatures with techniques that would lend themselves to manufacture of devices on a variety of substrates over large areas.
OSU researchers have been leaders in a number of important material science advances in recent years, including the field of transparent electronics. University scientists will do some initial work with the new technology in electronic displays, but many applications are possible, they say.
High speed computers and electronics that don't depend on transistors are possibilities. Also on the horizon are "energy harvesting" technologies such as the nighttime capture of re-radiated solar energy, a way to produce energy from the Earth as it cools during the night.
"For a long time, everyone has wanted something that takes us beyond silicon," Keszler said. "This could be a way to simply print electronics on a huge size scale even less expensively than we can now. And when the products begin to emerge the increase in speed of operation could be enormous."
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Editor's Note: A digital image of one of the new MIM diodes is available online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregonstateuniversity/5123742864/
One-way leaky capacitor.
Sounds little like the Esaki or (Ge) tunnel diode, though that had negative resistance in a portion of its curve that made a number of high-frequency applications possible back in the 60s and 70s. I went looking for some back in the 90s and couldn’t find any.
ping
That.
And Bill Gates' parents 'getting jiggly' in Jan of 1954
;-)
??
Mr. Gates came into the world in the usual way on October 28, 1955. You must have meant "Jan of 1955."
And if they had not given flesh to the father of the personal computer, someone else would've.
Well, I guess many would argue that that "someone else" was Steve Jobs, born February 24, 1955.
Yes I did. Thanks for catching that.
*** And if they had not given flesh to the father of the personal computer, someone else would've. ***
I was thinking more along the line of the OS in the pc and all the software that literally exploded onto the market, all based on his OS (or OS's - plural).
*** Well, I guess many would argue that that "someone else" was Steve Jobs, born February 24, 1955. ***
The problem with that someone else, Steve Jobs, and his pc's and OS's in them is that the software for them is limited.
For instance; in the Construction Industry -- 'every'(1) Architectural Firm, Engineering Firm, and General or lowly sub-Subcontractor, like Joe the Plumber, use AutoCAD(2), which is only made for the Windows OS.
As such, without Bill Gates the 'invention' of CAD for making 'blueprints' never would have happened like it did. We'd still be using Paper & Pencils, and Drafting Boards would still be in every 'Engineering' Dept, no matter how large or small a firm is.(3)
So Bill Gates changed more than just speeding up how we communicate, play games, or surf the Internet. The guy changed the way the world works.
(1) 99% at the least
(2) AutoCAD's '.dwg' file format is the Industry Standard. Even if your CAD program isn't AutoCAD it better have their '.dwg' file extension and be AutoCAD compatible.
(3) Hand made Construction Drawings are no longer accepted by anyone. Everything must be drawn with CAD. And that change happened almost overnight. In 2002 'some' projects would still accept 'paper drawings'. By 2004 no, it all had to be CAD.
Course, it didn't hurt that Mr. Gates' mom was on the board of directors of the United Way, and one of her fellow board members was John Opel, CEO of IBM at that time.
I had an opportunity to spend as much time as I wanted learning AutoCAD back in 1986, and get paid very nicely while doing so.
I really liked it. That was a long time ago, and I haven't touched it since. I'm sure it's grown huge and fat in the 24 years since then, and I wouldn't have a clue how to use it.
As many have observed, IBM's PC "made it all right" for business managers to buy little computers. That opened the floodgates, and history was made.
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